Mob Rule and Sparky: Chapter Two

It's been busy at the office. A fresh batch of co-op students has just shipped in and, on May 2, the Premier decided it was high time for an election.

No one wonders what public servants do in the down time between governments, but I'm going to tell you - just like I told the co-op students - because its one of those daylight miracles we take for granted.

It's not the case everywhere in the world that governments fall and everything keeps working. But that's what happens here. 

Public servants and their one-time political masters shift into "caretaker mode" which means that electricity keeps flowing, roads keep being built, jail cells are still kept watch on and the lottery continues to award millions to lucky winners, even though there is no one officially in charge.

How cool is that? 

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Sparky's Funtime Summertime Murder Mystery
Chapter Two 

Sparky here. This is Chapter Two of my story about how Gerry Ringbold met his untimely end. The story starts here.

This is how I found out Gerry Ringbold was dead. 

I was about six weeks into my first summer on the job as a washroom attendant, employed at one of the works supported by the Peony MacDonald Chester Foundation for the Public Enjoyment of the Thompson Gardens. 

I had the evening shift. It was just past five in the afternoon and I remember being a bit startled when a man walked into the women's washroom.  

The man was a plain-clothes cop. He introduced himself by showing me his badge and then started asking me questions. 

            “What’s your name?”

            I told him.

            “How long have you been here?”

            “I started this job six weeks ago…”

            He gave me a look. “No, today I mean. How long have you been here?”

            “My shift starts at four,” I said.

            He looked at his watch and made a note. “What is your shift?”

            “I work from four to midnight, Saturday to Wednesday.” Today was Saturday.

            “So you weren't working here last night?”

            “I guess not.” 

            “Have you seen or heard anything unusual today?”

I gave my answer some thought. “Unusual” is usual in the Gardens. Over the first few weeks on the job I’d heard lots of shouting and screaming and maybe even distant gunshots but not any of that recently, so I said “No, nothing unusual.”

He made another note and then turned away. “Hey,” I said, “What’s going on?”

He turned back to look at me. “D’you know Gerry Ringbold?” 

Now I consider myself to be a leading expert on Gerry Ringbold, but I had no idea who he was then.

“Never heard of him,” I said. 

“Well, the guy you never heard of is dead in the garden shed,” said the cop. 

And so began my Gerry Ringbold research project. I googled him right after the cop left. 

I found out that Gerry'd been a City councillor for about eight years, famous for being opposed to just about everything, in the name of protecting the taxpayer. 

And, before that, he'd made his name as a lawyer litigating a long, high-profile case against the estate of Peony MacDonald Chester and her endowment to the Foundation for the Public Enjoyment of the Thompson Gardens.

You can read Chapter Three here.

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Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen